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Women’s scientific participation

Summary

Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…

Matches: 20 hits

  • … |  Editors and critics  |  Assistants Darwins correspondence helps bring to light a
  • community. Here is a selection of letters exchanged between Darwin and his workforce of women
  • Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August
  • silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to
  • behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [31 July 1863] Lydia
  • plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [6 June 1864] …
  • South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] …
  • a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] …
  • Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [5
  • Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 July 1862] Darwin tells American naturalist Asa
  • the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9
  • Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • in Llandudno. Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] …
  • Letter 8144 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [5 January 1872] Darwin asks his niece, …
  • Lychnis diurna. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] …
  • lawn. Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin
  • Letter 9606 - Harrison, L. C. to Darwin, [22 August 1874] Darwins niece, Lucy, …
  • Letter 1701  - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • garden ”. Letter 6083  - Casparay, J. X. R. to Darwin, [2 April 1868] …
  • Letter 7858 - Darwin to Wa llace, A. R., [12 July 1871] Darwin tells Wallace that

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those …
  • … a broad variety of women had access to, and engaged with, Darwin's published works. A set of …
  • … Were women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
  • … that his views are original and will appeal to the public. Darwin asks Murray to forward the …
  • … it had been proofread and edited by “a lady”. Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March 1862
  • … from all but educated, typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E …
  • … he seeks her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, …
  • … female readership Letter 5391 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [6 February 1867] …
  • … Literary Society . Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to Darwin, [13 January 1869] …
  • Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. L. B., [8 November, 1869] Darwin writes to feminist …
  • … to an asylum with her father. Letter 7651 - Wedgwood, F. J. to Darwin, H. E., …
  • … thinking”. Letter 8778 - Forster, L. M . to Darwin, H. E., [20 February …
  • … in Expression . Letter 10072 - Pape, C. to Darwin, [16 July 1875] …
  • … in her garden. Letter 13650 Kennard, C. A. to Darwin, [28 January 1882] …
  • … Variation . Letter 6126 - Binstead, C. H. to Darwin, [17 April 1868] …
  • … of Variation . Letter 6237 - Bullar, R. to Darwin, [9 June 1868] …
  • … of variation”. Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to Darwin, [13 January 1869] …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 26 hits

  • In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwins mind was the writing of  The variation of animals and
  • letters on climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also submitted a manuscript of his
  • protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. Darwins transmutation theory continued to
  • Argyll, appeared in the religious weeklyGood Words . Darwin received news of an exchange of
  • Butler, and, according to Butler, the bishop of Wellington. Darwins theory was discussed at an
  • in the  GardenersChronicleAt the end of the year, Darwin was elected an honorary member of
  • year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of
  • in August. There was also a serious dispute between two of Darwins friends, John Lubbock and
  • The death of Hugh Falconer Darwins first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family
  • having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus
  • his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium
  • may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • Darwin had received a copy of Müllers bookFür Darwin , a study of the Crustacea with reference
  • check one or two points that he did not clearly understand (l etter to Daniel Oliver, 20 October
  • on  Verbascum.  Darwin had suggested to Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic
  • vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). Darwin had already written to Hooker of
  • … … inheritance, reversion, effects of use & disuse &c’, and which he intended to publish in
  • disturbing the serenity of the Christian world’ (Brewster 1862, p. 3). John Hutton Balfour, though
  • …  vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). According to Hooker, Balfours prejudice
  • He wrote to Hooker, ‘I doubt whether you or I or any one c d  do any good in healing this breach. …
  • Hookers behalf, ‘He asks if you saw the article of M r . Croll in the last Reader on the
  • Correspondence vol. 13, CDsJournal’, Appendix I). Wedgwood and Darwin relatives visited Down
  • … ‘As for your thinking that you do not deserve the C[opley] Medal,’ he rebuked Hooker, ‘that I
  • … [1861]: ‘Mamma is in bed with bad Headach.— Miss. L. is very bad with headach.— Lenny has got a

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 12 hits

  • Discussion Questions | Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth
  • Letters Darwins Notes On Marriage [April - July 1838] In these notes, …
  • theories, & accumulating facts in silence & solitude”. Darwin also comments that he has
  • an hourwith poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to
  • whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13
  • her own steam and is afirst rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30
  • the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
  • Anderson isneither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 November 1871] …
  • flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 October 1881] Darwin
  • patience. Letter 13607Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 January 1882] Darwin

Scientific Networks

Summary

Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
  • … when strong institutional structures were largely absent. Darwin had a small circle of scientific …
  • … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
  • … section contains two sets of letters. The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. …
  • … Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [11 Jan 1844] …
  • … confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 23 Feb [1844] …
  • Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 25 Apr [1855] Darwin …
  • … species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. R., 22 May 1855 Gray recalled …
  • … flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 20 July [1857] Darwin …
  • … information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] …
  • … name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 In this gossipy …
  • … species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 …
  • Darwin and Müller Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. R., 23 Mar 1867 …
  • … . Letter 5471 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, H. L. H., 29 Mar [1867] Darwin learns …
  • … brother. Letter 5481 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr [1867] Müller …
  • Letter 3800 — Scott, John to Darwin, C. R., [11 Nov 1862] Scottish gardener John Scott notes …
  • Letter 3805 — Darwin, C. R. to Scott, John, 12 Nov [1862] Darwin thanks Scott for bringing …

Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution

Summary

The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’.  Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…

Matches: 18 hits

  • The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the
  • in relation to Sex’. Always precise in his accounting, Darwin reckoned that he had started writing
  • gathered on each of these topics was far more extensive than Darwin had anticipated. As a result,  …
  • and St George Jackson Mivart, and heated debates sparked by Darwins proposed election to the French
  • shall be a man again & not a horrid grinding machine’  ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December
  • anything which has happened to me for some weeks’  ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ) …
  • corrections of style, the more grateful I shall be’  ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ) …
  • … , the latter when she was just eighteen years of age. Darwin clearly expected her to make a
  • who wd ever have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …
  • abt any thing so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February
  • philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe. At Cobbes suggestion, Darwin read some of Immanuel Kants  …
  • throapes & savages at the moral sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] …
  • how metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870
  • fairy in Shakespeares  A midsummer nights dreamDarwin obtained a sketch of a human ear from
  • in thanks for the drawing ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26 November [1868] …
  • family members with infants, including his niece Lucy Wedgwood, who sent a sketch of a babys brows
  • … (in retrograde direction) naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). …
  • of a pollination mechanism in  Lotus siliquosus  (now  L. maritimus ), a sample of which had

Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health

Summary

On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’.  Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…

Matches: 25 hits

  • On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July
  • … … of having grown older’. This portrait, the first of Darwin with his now famous beard, had been
  • 52 hours without vomiting!! In the same month, Darwin began to consult William Jenner, …
  • prescribed a variety of antacids and purgatives, and limited Darwins fluid intake; this treatment
  • the dimorphic aquatic cut-grass  Leersia . In May, Darwin finished his paper on  Lythrum
  • thus completing the work he had started on the genus in 1862. His varied botanical observations and
  • he had set aside the previous summer. In October, Darwin let his friends know that on his
  • and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the
  • November and December were also marked by the award to Darwin of the Royal Societys Copley Medal; …
  • As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the
  • observations indoors ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin
  • gradation by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
  • fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
  • to have the tendrils then revert to leaves, as in  L. nissolia . Darwin wrote (‘Climbing plants’, …
  • modified in the course of ages, we may conclude that  L. nissolia  is the result of a long series
  • between the two different forms. His research on  L. salicaria  suggested an even more intricate
  • garden, taking notes by dictation. His niece Lucy Caroline Wedgwood sent observations of  …
  • act. In his ongoing quest to confirm the statement in his 1862 book on orchids that natureabhors
  • Scott, a gardener at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1862 with a letter regarding the
  • at odds with one another: ‘Gardeners are the very dl, & where two or three are gathered
  • 5 September 1864 ). Fritz Müeller sent his bookFür Darwin , and Darwin had it translated by a
  • and Book of Joshua critically examined  (Colenso 186279). After reading extracts from Colensos
  • Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 6 November [1862] ). A declaration that Erasmus
  • but Lyell says when I read his discussion in the Elements [C. Lyell 1865] I shall recant for fifth
  • on intellectual &ampmoral  qualities’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 21 hits

  • 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwins  Origin of species , printing
  • surprised both the publisher and the author. One week later Darwin was stunned to learn that the
  • the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
  • his views. ‘One cannot expect fairness in a Reviewer’, Darwin commented to Hooker after reading an
  • he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
  • butunfairreviews that misrepresented his ideas, Darwin began to feel that without the early
  • it was his methodological criticism in the accusation that Darwin haddeserted the inductive track, …
  • from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • was a hypothesis, not a theory, therefore also displeased Darwin. Comparing natural selection to the
  • a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
  • phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
  • issue of  Macmillans Magazine . Fawcett asserted that Darwins theory accorded well with John
  • induction, ratiocination, and then verification. Darwin and his critics Specific
  • Several correspondents, such as his cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood and Heinrich Georg Bronn, expressed
  • the origin of life itself, which the theory did not address. Darwin chose to treat this as an
  • things, about the multitude of still living simple forms. Darwin readily admitted that his failure
  • natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19
  • it into his method of reasoning about global change. Darwin also knew that Lyell was a powerful
  • because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). Darwin
  • next year and published the results of the orchid study in 1862. Back to the origin of sex: …
  • He presented the results of his study in a paper of 1862 and in  The different forms of flowers on

Darwin’s reading notebooks

Summary

In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…

Matches: 27 hits

  • In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to
  • … (DAR 119) opens with five pages of text copied from Notebook C and carries on through 1851; the
  • used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwins letters; the full transcript
  • … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwins alterations. The spelling and
  • book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been
  • a few instances, primarily in theBooks Readsections, Darwin recorded that a work had been
  • of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the
  • to be Read [DAR *119: Inside Front Cover] C. Darwin June 1 st . 1838
  • de la Folie des Animaux de ses Rapports avec celle de lHomme,” by Dr. Pierquin, published in Paris
  • …  [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. Said to be good by D r  L. Lindsay 5 [DAR *119: 1v.] …
  • Cuvier 1822] read Flourens Edit [Flourens 1845] read L. Jenyns paper on Annals of Nat. Hist. …
  • … [DAR *119: 2v.] Whites regular gradation in man [C. White 1799] Lindleys
  • 8 vo  p 181 [Latreille 1819]. see p. 17 Note Book C. for reference to authors about E. Indian
  • in brutes Blackwood June 1838 [J. F. Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on Geog. distrib: of Brit: …
  • Wiegman has pub. German pamphlet on crossing oats &c [Wiegmann 1828] Horticultural
  • in Library of Hort. Soc. [DAR *119:5v.] M c .Neil 16  has written good article
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824
  • on the Dog with illustrations of about 100 varieties [?C. H. Smith 183940] 24 Flourens
  • 183440]: In Portfolio ofabstracts34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm
  • … [Fellows 1839] Catherine 48 Life of Collins R.A. [Collins 1848] Phases of Faith
  • du rire. In8A. Durand . 3 fr. 117  [Dumont 1862] Goethe. — Œuvres dhistoires
  • … (Liebig 1851). 50  Probably Elizabeth Wedgwood. 51  This note is a
  • 1848Memoirs of the life of William   Collins, Esq., R.A.  2 vols. London.  *119: 23; 119: …
  • … à Buffon.) Paris.  *119: 14v. Dumont, Léon. 1862Des causes du rire.  Paris.  *128: …
  • by Richard Owen.  Vol. 4 of  The works of John Hunter, F.R.S. with notes . Edited by James F. …
  • Robert. 1843Memoirs of the life of John   Constable, R.A., composed chiefly of his letters. …
  • Peacock, George. 1855Life of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S.  London.  *128: 172; 128: 21